#24 Mt. Waumbek
12/19/09

I love how the fact that this was two days short of the official start of winter made this a fall hike. It certainly didn’t feel that way. On the drive in the car thermometer showed as low as –11 degrees. At the start it was –6 degrees, the coldest start I have had. There was plenty of snow on the ground but alas I was NOT walking in a winter wonderland.

This time dad and I were not alone. Dave was joining us for the hike. I warned him we weren’t fast hikers and today I really wasn’t. I was starting to get a cold, which caused me to drag my wagon. I also was wearing my plastic boots to get use to them and that slowed me down some. We parked right next to a gas station in an alternative parking lot. The trailhead lot was closed but this only added maybe a half-mile to our round trip. The trail was not difficult. This was good again cause I wasn’t on my A game. At the beginning of the Starr King trail the snow was fairly packed and we weren’t post holing. As we climbed though the snow started becoming more powder and less packed down by others. This caused more post holing. Dad was getting really annoyed. It didn’t bother me too much probably because I am lighter and don’t post hole as much.

When we got to the top of Starr King we took a bit of a lunch break. Dave found a nice rock to sit on and dad and I sat by the random fireplace. We decided that we were going to leave our bags here and go lighter to get to Waumbek. Dad decided to put his snowshoes on but Dave and I stayed in boots. It was a lot better having less weight on your shoulders for the hike over. There were a few little viewpoints but not too much. When we got to the top of Waumbek there wasn’t any view, urg. I plopped down and decided to do a snow angel. We took some pictures and headed back with some speed. See a blizzard was brewing down in NY/NJ and we wanted to get home before it hit CT.

Going down I was doing better. I had some energy from my food and the whole using gravity helped. I was slipping a bunch because of the plastic boot bottom but did well. I was very happy to get back to the car and sit down. Thank goodness this wasn’t a more difficult hike because my body was having a hard time. I kept telling myself “I can do all things” and I made it.

Next up, a “real” winter hike. LOL